Noticeboard

Cancelling your Appointment If you are unable to attend an appointment with one of the doctors or nurses, please telephone our cancellation line 593580 or use the link at the bottom of this page to cancel your appointment.

Out of HoursPlease telephone the surgery and you will be re-directed to the out of hours services. The out of hours centre is located within Shotley Bridge hospital.

Urgent Appointments If you have a problem that will not wait for a routine appointment, please tell the receptionist

Appointments

Please note that the surgery is closed from 12.00 pm. on the 3rd Thursday of each month for Protected Learning Time

The surgery phone lines will be closed daily from 12.00-12.30pm Our main reception area will remain open every day from 8.30-5.30pm. Please see 'training' section for details of the days we're closed for staff training.

URGENT APPOINTMENTS

If you have a problem that will not wait for a routine appointment, please tell the receptionist.

Triage runs daily from 8.30-3pm.

The receptionist may need to ask the reason for the appointment, this is so they can book the right type of appointment for you. We have lots of different clinics at the surgery and we want to help you receive the right care.

Telephone System

For the protection of Patients and our Staff all "Telephone" calls are recorded. Please DO NOT use the CALLBACK service offered by B.T. as this is not compatible with our telephone system.

When checking in for your appointment we have a self check in facility on our reception desk. This is a quick easy way to check in for your appointment.

IF YOU CANNOT KEEP AN APPOINTMENT PLEASE LET US KNOW

APPOINTMENT SYSTEM

An appointment system is in operation and have spaces every day for those who need to be seen urgently.

Each routine appointment is for 10 minutes unless otherwise specified. If you feel you require a double appointment please ask at time of booking.

You may choose which doctor you prefer to see, which does not have to be the doctor you are registered with. If you have seen one doctor with a problem it is usually better to follow it up with them.

In an emergency your details will be assessed by a doctor and you will be seen as soon as is necessary. We aim to achieve the Government target of patients being seen by a health care professional within 48 hours.

In return we ask you to…

Request appointments before 10:00am if you wish to be seen the same day.

Cancel appointments you cannot keep as early as possible so that the time can be made available to someone else.

Request emergency or urgent appointments only when absolutely necessary.

Observe the ‘one patient, one appointment’ rule and not to compromise the Doctor by asking him to treat other family members at the same time.

Register to book appointments online.

If you would like to set up your online access so you can book appointments and order repeat medication please click on the links at the bottom of top of the screen or go to Online Services

We now have lots more appointments available online including appointments for the Well woman clinic & Hypertension clinics.

Home Visits

Patients who are housebound and are genuinely unable to attend the surgery can be visited in their own homes.

Please consider house calls are time consuming and the doctors can usually see at least three patients in the surgery. in the time taken to make a home visit.

If you need to arrange a home visit from a GP please call the surgery. Once of the on call doctors will ring you to assess your condition and then arrange the visit with you.

Please be aware that if you require a house call this should be requested before 11:30 am.

Telephone Access

You may speak to the Doctor during the day on the telephone after surgery times. Individual partners consult at various times through the week therefore the receptionist will be able to advise you when it is convenient. The Nurse is available to speak to you over the telephone between 1-2 p.m. and 5-5:30 p.m. Monday – Friday

Our triage (Duty doctors) are available to speak to every day between 8.30-3pm but before a Doctor can call you back we need to ask a few questions. The Doctors have requested that the medical reception team ask these questions to ensure a call back from the Duty is Doctor is the most appropriate course of action.